The Jews of Africa

"Did you know there are Jewish communities all over Africa?

Western Jews do not always imagine that people of different skin colors and from distant cultures could be Jewish, but the truth is that there are currently indigenous communities observing traditional Jewish rituals all over the continent of Africa. True, most Jewish communities in Africa bear little resemblance to Jewish communities in Europe or North America – they look different, speak different languages, embrace music and culture with which many Western Jews are unfamiliar – yet these communities have religious practices that everyone who is Jewish would recognize.

Each community that practices Judaism in Africa has come to the religion in a different way. Some believe themselves to be descendents of the "lost Tribes of Israel," others are members of communities that have been Jewish for two millennia, while other groups have accepted Judaism in recent years because it is the religion that most resonates with their lives. The one factor that unifies these communities is that they are proud to call themselves Jewish, and would like the international Jewish community to accept them as Jews.


Black Jews of Ethiopia: The Last Exodus